He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. -Friedrich Nietzsche

"When are they coming over?"

Ginny rolled her eyes and continued fixing her hair while Draco sat on the couch in the big master bedroom, watching her curiously.

"I told you, I haven't seen anyone since school let out and September is just a week away. I just want to have some human contact," she told him.

"I'm not human?"

She glanced at him through the mirror and her eyes narrowed a little.

"I'm looking for something a little more real," she replied and he laughed, standing up and moving over beside her.

"And I should be forced to suffer through this?"

"Yes."

Draco leaned in and kissed her neck, causing her to shiver before he turned and walked out of the room.

"Fine."

As he strolled the long, lonely halls of Malfoy Manor, something occurred to Draco that for some reason had not come to him before. Ginny would soon be entering into her ninth month, which meant his time to leave would be coming very soon. He stopped in the corridor and leaned against the wall, ignoring the portraits that watched him cautiously. He could hear them murmuring about him, but ignored it. They had no way of escaping the Manor, so he did not care what they saw and talked about.

Ginny though… she could talk… not that she would. While she had become accustomed to things in the Malfoy house over the summer, he had made it very clear that her stay would not be long and anything that happened within the confines of the tall, sculpted walls and heavy oak doors would remain there.

But still… There was something about the idea of her leaving that bothered him. It was not the pathetic leech that currently resided within her, sucking life out of him with every month that it grew. No… he had resolved long ago that the thing would indeed grow up without having a Malfoy to call father. The thought of raising such a disgusting creature made his skin crawl.

Perhaps it was the sex that left him reluctant to go…

Before Draco could think of all the reasons why sex would be a reason for him to leave, the doorbell rang. By the time he made it to the staircase, one of the house elves had opened the door, letting in the Golden Trio. His lip curled a little at the ridiculous name, but he said nothing as he gracefully walked down the marble stairs, stopping just on top of the reddish stain left there by his poor, deceased mother, God rest her soul…

Ron and Harry remember how that stain had gotten there and paled slightly. The look on Draco's face had been anything but pleasant.

"How nice of you to finally get here," Draco greeted with a smile on his face. Hermione looked up the stairs and frowned.

"Is Ginny here?" she asked with such hesitation that the smile on Draco's face became genuine as he led the way to the dining room.

"She's still alive," he replied. Even after Draco had married Ginny, there were several who believed that he would eventually snap and try to kill the baby. Hermione, apparently, was one of them.

"That's not why I asked, Draco," she snapped and he shrugged.

"You seemed worried."

For a few minutes, they all sat in an awkward silence while a couple of house elves came in and out, serving drinks. Hermione's eyes were constantly on them in disapproval but she said nothing about it. She had made her sentiments known about the house elves earlier in the summer when they had helped Ginny move in to the Manor. She was not about to do it again.

"I'm here," Ginny announced as she walked, or waddled in Draco's opinion, into the dining room. To his displeasure, her stomach was still swollen. Her face was flushed and sweat glistened off of her brow, but he ignored it. That's how she looked most of the time these days.

Dinner started and soon Draco was completely ignored, not that he minded. He just sat there and listened to the rest of the Gryffindors discuss work, life and anything else that was uninteresting to him. Ginny seemed to be enjoying herself so he was not about to start complaining.

During dessert, however, she began acting strangely and for a while only Hermione noticed. She was continuously shifting in her seat and biting her lip. Her cheeks were still red and her ears were the same color as her hair. After a few more minutes of sitting there, Ginny excused herself to the kitchen to talk to the elves about something. Hermione did the same thing, telling them she just wanted to talk to Ginny about something.

When she arrived to the kitchen, Ginny was hunched over and clutching her stomach while her eyes were closed and breathing heavy. A couple of house elves were trying to offer her a seat and something cool to drink but she waved them off, insisting she was fine.

"Ginny, what's going on?"

The redhead's eyes bulged and she turned around quickly, which was not such a good idea because a gasp escaped her lips and she grabbed the counter, taking deep breaths before she managed to stand up straight.

"Nothing, Hermione. I'm fine," she insisted but even then she touched her bulging stomach and flinched in pain. Hermione's eyes grew and her mouth dropped open as she began to point at Ginny.

"Ginny… you're-"

Ginny walked over and grabbed her friend, trying to stop her before she finished the statement.

"Stop it," she hissed. "Don't say a word."

Hermione could not believe it.

"Ginny," she whispered heatedly. "You're going into labor!"

The moment the words were said, the girl's eyes watered and she looked down at her stomach.

"You can't say anything, Hermione," she begged. "Please, you can't."

"You need to get to St. Mungos," Hermione responded, motioning for a chair to be brought. When she got Ginny to sit down, she turned to leave, but Ginny would not let her go.

"Hermione, please, don't!" she pleaded. "I'm fine!"

Hermione shook her head, her heart aching for her friend.

"Ginny, you're not fine. That baby's coming and we need to get you to the hospital," she said, but even then she could see the desperation in Ginny's eyes. "You can't stop this…"

Shaking her head, Ginny winced again as the contractions began to come faster.

"I can't… Hermione, I can't," she cried.

"Ginny," Hermione said as she got up to leave. "You need to get help."

"Hermione, no!"

"What's going on in here?" Harry asked as he, Ron and Draco entered the kitchen. Ginny stood up instantly and tried to look like nothing was wrong.

"I'm fine," she snapped, shooting a look at Hermione. "I'm fine."

Hermione shook her head. Despite her understanding of Ginny's fear, she could not allow her friend to stay here any longer while her body was telling her that it was time to deliver the baby.

"Ginny's water broke and now she's going into labor," she blurted out and suddenly all eyes were on Draco Malfoy, who had froze and gone completely pale. Ginny's eyes filled with more tears and she tried to move towards him but his eyes hardened to steel and the room became cold.

"Draco-"

"Sit down," he whispered in such a deadly calm voice that even Harry and Ron backed away from him a little, their hands moving towards their wands slowly. The look on the young man's face was unreadable, but they could all guess what was running through his mind. Ginny saw Draco pull out his wand and she tried to reach out to him.

"Draco, please-"

"Sit down."

Ginny glanced over at Hermione.

"Draco-"

"I said, sit down," Draco growled, his voice so cold and dangerous that Ginny did as she was told, tears falling down her face the entire time. Before anyone could say another word, Draco disapparated. Harry and Ron instantly went to Ginny's side, trying to figure out what was the best way to get her to St. Mungos while Hermione held on to the poor girl's hand. She could only imagine what Ginny was going through at this moment, knowing that the past few months had just ended.

Surprisingly, Draco returned with two other people dressed in Healer robes.

"Mrs. Malfoy, my name is Roland Meyers and this is Penelope Quince and we're going to be your Healers," the man explained as they helped Ginny to her feet. The woman turned to Draco.

"Is there a large fireplace around here?" she asked and Draco nodded silently, ignoring the looks Ginny's family was giving him. He led the way to the living room and opened the jar containing Floo powder.

"Wait, you're going to Floo her to St. Mungos?" Hermione asked. "Is that safe?"

Healer Quince nodded.

"It's much safer than apparating or a Port Key, I can assure you," she answered and then turned to Ginny. "You're going to be fine."

Ginny looked around the room but Draco was no where to be found and before she could ask where he was, the Healers threw the powder down and announced their destination.

"It's been an hour, I really think we should go out there and find the children ourselves," Mr. Weasley snapped as he paced back and forth in the kitchen. The Weasley grandchildren had all gone upstairs while the rest of the Weasley clan stood in the kitchen with the others, all waiting impatiently inside. Dumbledore and Moody had left to inform the Ministry of Magic to inform them of the situation at the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley was making tea while Ginny stood by the back door, chewing on her lip. Upon hearing her father's words, she looked away from the window and frowned.

"Just a few more minutes, Dad," she whispered.

"You said that thirty minutes ago, Ginny," Bill hissed angrily, standing up from the table and moving over to his sister. "Why the hell are we still in here while your daughter and her friends are running around in the forest from some blonde bitch and her posse?!"

"I said a few more minutes," Ginny replied. "Draco said he'd take care of it."

Jason stood up from his seat, jerking a few other people to attention at the action. Several knew that his relationship with Ginny was currently on the rocks because of Draco's appearance here, but it had not been openly showcased.

"Why the hell did you listen to Malfoy in the first place?" he demanded irately. "From what I gathered, he's the reason that Vince lady got so close to Reilly and her friends!"

Ginny looked indignant and her eyes narrowed a little.

"This is not Draco's fault, Jason," she hissed. "It's Greyback's. The only reason I don't want any of you to go out there is because it's dangerous!"

"And Malfoy's equipped to handle those things while none of us are?"

Noticing that her family was watching them, Ginny stood up a bit straighter and turned back to the window.

"I'm not going to talk about this right now with you," she muttered. "We're going to wait."

This response only seemed to anger Jason and he walked over to her.

"Why aren't you worried about this?! Your daughter is out there!" he yelled and she rounded on him.

"Of course I'm worried!" she shot back. "I'm worried to death! But I trust Draco enough to wait here and let him get her!"

Jason's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You trust Malfoy more than your family?!"

Ginny's eye widened at the implication and she looked around to see that the rest of her family seemed to be waiting on an answer to that question. She could see curiosity swimming in their eyes and a momentary wave of hate pulsed through her aimed directly at Jason.

How dare he question her loyalties?!

However, before she could get a word in on the subject, Hermione stood and pointed out the window.

"Look, there he is," she gasped before placing a hand to her lips. "I don't see Reilly or her friends, Ginny…"

Ginny returned to the door and looked out to see Draco walking up the hill with something in his hand. There was no one else there. Biting her lip, she grabbed her coat from off the counter and walked out, ignoring the protests she was given.

"Where is she?" Ginny demanded, plowing her way through the snow to get to the blonde man. Noticing her irritable state, Draco stopped and waited until she approached before he held up the ropes in his hand. Frowning, Ginny looked around him and gasped. "Oh my God…"

The three bloodied wolves Ginny had seen earlier were lying on the ground with ropes tied to their hind legs. The disturbing thing about it was that their bodies were misshapen, with parts showing pale skin and fingers while the other parts were hairy and grey. It was as if they had tried to transform when they were…

"What did you do to them?" she asked, placing a hand over her mouth to block the stench of blood. She could see the glistening crimson path Draco had taken from the woods and it only amplified the grotesque situation.

Draco snorted.

"Don't think to hard about it," he replied quietly before he pointed up to the Burrow. "I need to get them to the Ministry."

Ginny's eyes widened and she quickly shook her head, moving to stand right in front of him.

"Oh no, Draco. I don't think so," she hissed. "You are not going into that house with those things." She looked around and poked him in the chest. "Where's Reilly and her friend?!"

Draco shoved her hand away and began dragging the deceased up towards the house.

"Your child and the two gits with her are safe upstairs, if the lot of you bothered to look," he told her. "Probably asleep from running around through the snow."

For a moment she just stared at him, trying to figure out something out before she jolted a little and pointed to the corpses behind him.

"First of all, where's that blonde bimbo, Em what's her face?" she demanded and a smirk came to his face.

"I knew I was forgetting something."

Jason was fuming by the door and so far no one knew what to say about it. As soon as Ginny started talking to Malfoy, his whole demeanor changed and they could tell he wanted nothing more than to walk out there, but something seemed to be holding him back.

Curiosity, most likely.

"Are they arguing?" he muttered in disbelief when Ginny began sticking her finger in Malfoy's face. Hermione stood beside him and bit her lip.

"It's hard to tell. Sometimes they look like their fighting when they're really about to…" Hermione's eyes widened when she realized what she was about to say and her cheeks reddened. Jason turned to look at her and she returned to looking out the window, trying her best to avoid his gaze. "I'm sure they're just arguing…"

Mariel was sitting in the corner watching the entire situation with some concern. Everyone around her seemed much to calm for such a dire situation and when she turned to Harry to find an answer and he did not look fazed as well. Biting her lip, she slipped out of the kitchen into the hall, bumping into Ron Weasley.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized, instinctively placing a hand on her belly as she moved out of his way. Ron noticed and frowned.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly. She smiled at him and nodded.

"Yes, thank you. I just needed to stretch my legs," she replied. "You're Ron, right? Harry's friend. He talks about you all the time."

Ron tried to smile but the shock of hearing that his best friend was married was still fresh in his memory and he could not help but wonder why Harry had not told him. Mariel noticed his hesitation and leaned against the wall.

"Harry… he wanted our marriage to be…"

"Inconspicuous?" Ron offered and she nodded slowly.

"Yes," she whispered, looking up at him. She could still see hints of betrayal in his eyes and she sighed. "Harry loves you… all of you." Tears filled her eyes and she laughed as she wiped them away. "When I first met him… all he would talk about was this place and the Weasleys and how all of you in some way had saved his life…" She took a deep breath and pointed towards the kitchen. "He's… he's dealing with a lot and… I know it seemed like he betrayed your friendship by not telling you, but honestly… it was so sudden that…" More tears came to her face and Ron could tell that something more was going on than just this marriage.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. She sniffed and looked up at him, a soft smile on her face. Reaching up she touched his face before she leaned in and kissed his cheek quickly.

"I know why Harry cares about you so much," she whispered. "You're a good person…"

"Mariel?"

The two turned when Harry entered the hall and found them. He hesitated a little when Ron looked at him and then turned to Mariel with nothing but the utmost concern in his green eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked and she nodded, moving over to him.

"I'm fine, love," she murmured, kissing him swiftly on the lips. "I was just talking with Ron." She looked between the men before she pointed to the door. "I'll be in the kitchen."

Harry waited until she was gone before he turned to Ron, unsure of what to say. He had seen the look on Ron's face when he had announced his marriage to Mariel. There had been shock at first, which had been expected. But then something else appeared that was less identifiable. Betrayal… happiness… confusion… Harry could not tell, but ever since then, Ron had been a quiet man and Hermione had been no different, though she refused to acknowledge it for the moment.

"I think she's still getting used to all of this," Harry whispered. "She's not accustomed to all of this… excitement."

Ron nodded slowly, his eyes moving over Harry quickly to try to determine how to address the situation properly.

"Where is she from?" he asked.

"Vienna."

"You two met in Berlin?"

Harry nodded.

"Yeah… yeah, we did…"

"And you… got married in Berlin?" Ron asked, putting emphasis on the one thing that bothered him.

Harry caught the stress and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Um… yeah, we did," he muttered. "About a week and a half ago."

Despite what many thought, Ron was more observant than people gave him credit for. Especially when it came to Hermione and he remembered her talking about Ginny's disappearance.

"Wait… that's when Ginny…"

Taking a deep breath, Harry nodded again.

"Ginny was there," he told him and Ron took a step back suddenly, his eyes filling with confusion.

"Wait…Ginny was at your wedding?"

It took a moment for Harry to realize that Ron's confusion had suddenly shifted to anger and when he finally realized it, he was at a loss as to what to say.

"Um…"

"Ginny… The woman you've hated for the past eleven years… the woman you hurt for the past eleven years… My little sister... she was at your wedding?"

"Ron-"

"I don't understand why she was at your wedding, Harry," Ron snapped, his eyes narrowing. He crossed his hands over his chest, waiting for an answer.

"Nicholas, wait," Rayne gasped and he pulled away from her, propping himself up on one elbow so he could still look down at her. They had snuck away to one of the rooms upstairs where they could be alone and now after snogging for a while, the Slytherin had become a bit more adventurous and impatient.

"Bloody hell, Rayne," he muttered, watching with disappointment as she began to button up her blouse, covering up perfect breasts that he had managed to explore for a total of forty five seconds before her conscience went into overdrive. "No fair."

"We talked about this, Nick," she snapped, giving him a pointed look. "Not right now and most certainly not right here."

Nicholas groaned and rested his head in the crook of her neck, sighing as she stroked his hair.

"But you can't just let a bloke have a feel and then yank away without any warning," he complained. She smiled and kissed his temple, rolling on her side to look him in the eyes.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "But right now… I think it would be better if we kept sex out of the equation."

"Fine," he whispered, kissing her cheek and then sitting up. "What do you think is going on downstairs with your sister?"

Rayne shook her head.

"I don't know… It's quiet, isn't it?" She looked up at him. "What do you think is going on?"

He shrugged.

"How should I know? It's your family," he pointed out and she poked him in the stomach.

"It'll be your family too if you have any hopes of getting into my pants, Kane," she said cheekily.

"My dear, getting into your pants is going to be the least of this boy's worries."

Both teenagers fell off of the bed when they saw a blonde woman standing in the corner of the room by the open window, a smirk on her face.

"This is going to be fun," Emory murmured, bearing brilliant pearly fangs as she eyed them. "Get up."

Nicholas wrapped his arms around Rayne's waist and held her to him, his own eyes narrowing as he sized the woman up.

"What the hell do you want?" he demanded, his hand snaking into his pocket.

Emory sat down on the bed and tapped her wand against her temple.

"Get up, Kane," she ordered with a little less patience. Her eyes began wandering to the door and they could tell now that she was agitated more than confident.

"No," he snapped and a deep growl vibrated from her chest and through her clenched teeth. Her eyes narrowed and grew dark while they traveled between the window and the door anxiously.

"I will ask you one more time and then I will kill the redhead," she snarled, rising to her feet and pointing her wand to them both. "Get up!"

Rayne's grip on Nicholas had tightened to the point that he could not feel one of his arms, but he ignored the whimper that escaped her lips at the werewolf's threat.

"No," Nicholas muttered and she turned on him.

"Avada Ke-"

"Avada Kerdavra!"

The flash of green light lit up the room just as the door burst open and Draco Malfoy walked in, wand in hand. Rayne's scream was stifled by Kane's quick hand as he forced both of them to stand up. Draco's eyes had just fallen on Emory's lifeless form when Ginny burst in.

"What the…" She trailed off when she caught sight of the corpse. Her skin paled and she remained frozen there for a moment, unable to take her eyes off of Emory.

When Ginny finally came back into consciousness, every part of her body was deadened. She could hardly feel her heart pounding within her chest, but she could see her breath rising above her. For a moment, she thought she might have been at Mungos because of all the white but when she looked up, she saw the dark night above her.

She was outside…

Shaking herself out of her revere, she turned to Draco in anger. "Damn it, Draco! I tell you that you can't bring those three in the house and suddenly you feel the need to kill someone here to make your point?!" she hissed and he rolled his eyes, pointing to the couple in the corner.

"Despite what you think, I do have some semblance of self-control, Weasley," he replied. "Kane, on the other hand…"

Ginny's eyes widened and she turned to Nicholas.

"You?!"

Rayne also turned to her boyfriend, eyes wide in terror.

"Nick," she murmured, tears coming to her frightened eyes. "What…"

"WHAT'S GOING ON UP THERE?!" Moody demanded from the bottom of the stairs, causing the teenage girl to jump. He and Dumbledore had just gotten back from the Ministry with several more Aurors, much to Ginny's dismay. She glanced behind her quickly before she looked over at Rayne and pointed at her.

"You, come with me!" she snapped. "Now, Rayne!" The young woman quickly ran over to her guardian, still shaken and mute after what had just transpired. Ginny took a deep, calming breath and then turned to Draco and pointed to Nicholas and the body. "Take care of this!" Grabbing Rayne's hand, Ginny led the way back down the stairs, holding up her hand before Moody could open his mouth. "I'm not saying a word to you," she snapped as she headed into the kitchen. "Mum, Reilly is upstairs in one of the rooms with her friends and Draco probably drugged them. I'd rather you didn't wake them up because there is currently a dead body up in Bill's old room and three dead bodies outside." Ignoring the startled looks and open mouths, she turned to Mariel with apologies written all over her face. "Mariel, I am so sorry about this. Normally, Christmas is not so… violent, but with Draco back, I suppose something was bound to happen." She pulled Rayne close to her and grabbed her purse off the counter, her eyes beginning to fill with tears as something deep inside of her grabbed a hold of her heart and began to wrench it around. "I'm sorry, but I can't stay here."

"Ginny, wait-"

Before anyone could stop her, she disapparated with Rayne.

Hermione was on her way back to the waiting room with two cups of steaming tea in her hand and decided to pass by the nursery where Ginny's baby was being kept while she recovered. The poor girl had gone completely catatonic the moment the crying baby girl had been placed in her arms and after a few minutes, they had decided to give her time to rest. Hermione picked up the pace and almost dropped the tea when she rounded the corner and saw someone standing at the observation window just outside of the nursery.

Draco Malfoy was just standing there, staring at Ginny's baby girl sleeping in one of the cribs. There was no expression on his face though his skin was paler than usual. Biting her lip, Hermione carefully approached him and stood right beside him.

"Ginny isn't doing very well," she whispered. "Maybe if you saw her-"

"This isn't a social call, Granger," Draco growled, shutting her up effectively. "I'm just here to drop these off." He held up some papers and Hermione took them gingerly, frowning when she realized what they were.

"Divorce papers," she muttered.

"All she has to do is sign."

"You can't do this to her now, Draco," Hermione snapped angrily. "She's just given birth to your child and all you can do is shove these in her face?!"

Draco's eyes hardened and the hall suddenly became very cold.

"That thing is not my child," he snarled. "It's a parasite that should be killed."

Hermione's eyes widened and she looked into the nursery.

"You didn't come here to-"

"Kill it?" he finished before laughing chillingly. "No, I'm not so inconsiderate to the will of Mrs. Weasley as to deprive her of another grandchild."

Hermione winced at his tone and looked down at the papers.

"Then why are you here?"

Knowing very well that she had seen through the delivery excuse, Draco decided to be frank with her.

"I felt the need to see my father's handy work," he replied, his eyes moving back to the little thing in the crib. "Personally, I thought there would have been a lot more screaming."

Hermione's mouth dropped open and she took a step away from him.

"You were there?" she gasped and he smirked.

"I stood outside the door, to be more precise," he responded, looking down at her with threatening, grey eyes. "I would appreciate it if you kept that to yourself. For your own sake."

A cold chill ran down Hermione's spine and she bit her lip as she watched him gaze upon Ginny's child with absolutely no emotion. It was as if the birth had destroyed whatever humanity he had managed to hold onto for the past eight months and he had reverted back to the old Draco Malfoy. The one everyone hated. The one she could see wanting to kill the girl on the other side of the glass.

"Perhaps you should leave," she murmured shakily and he glanced over at her briefly before he pointed at the baby.

"That's not going to end well for a lot of people," he whispered as he walked away. "Including me."

A/N: I know, not much after the last chapter, but I will try to update once more before 2010. Can you believe it?! It's almost the New Year!

Dracoginnylover24: I'm glad you liked it. This one was much shorter, but I hope you enjoyed it just as much.

Mitra Laramie: Well, Ginny's going through a hard time as it is. Christmas isn't exactly the best time in her life and with Draco back, I'm sure that's bringing back some bad memories, as you can tell. As for Jason, we'll go into more about what's going to happen between them in the next couple of chapters as well.

AngeliqueBlack: I don't think this cliffhanger was as poignant. But hopefully it's still intriguing.

Jenny: It was really hard to do that whole Draco/Harry/Jason thing without it blowing out into a strange battle of words. I love all three of the men so I didn't want to seem as if I was favoring Draco in any way. I hope you liked this one.

Wesker888: Oh, don't worry. I haven't been reading much either, though I have the time now. I've been focusing on other things. I'll try to get to your new story soon, but I might not review (Despite school being out, I need to work on a fifteen page paper). Not fun… I won't be retiring soon. I still need to finish this and hopefully my finishing product will be something worth reading. I already have most of the ending written down. It's just a matter of getting there.

MaeSilverpaws1: I'll focus a lot on Harry in the next chapter, so we'll see how the whole family is taking it. They don't yet know that Mariel is pregnant, so that might change their mindset as well. They weren't really werewolves. Animagus actually, so Draco dealt with them pretty quickly and I think Ginny had a handle on making sure no one bothered him in that process. Despite what she says, she really does think very highly of Draco and knows he can take care of things.

MeggyandHaku: Things are going to get very interesting.

purplegabby123: We'll see…

FreezingFire81: Oh, you'll be surprised by what's going to happen.

well just imagine: That whole triangle is so complicated! Jason desperately wants his relationship with Ginny to work and I believe she feels the same way. However, Draco's intentions, or lack thereof, are making it difficult for her to figure out how to handle him. He hasn't really told anyone what he's really doing back in London and since he hasn't dealt with Greyback, it's starting to wear on Ginny's nerves, which is making things worse. That straight line might never come.

No chapter tease. Sorry!